Flo’s V8 Cafe, Disney California Adventure – Anaheim, California

We’ve reached the pinnacle of neon art at Disney California Adventure. This is my favorite building in Radiator Springs and one of the top photos I made during the entire trip.

Like many of the buildings in the Cars movies, Flo’s was inspired by an actual Route 66 establishment. However, unlike yesterday’s building, which has a close resemblance to the original. Today’s cafe, based on Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, has no visual similarities. Instead, it was the people who worked at Midpoint that became characters in the movie.

According to this writeup in Wikipedia, the Flo, Mia, and Tia characters in Cars are based on the proprietor of Midpoint, Fran Houser, and two servers at the restaurant.

The design of the V8 Cafe is supposed to resemble a V8 engine head-on, which includes the circular air filter, spark plugs, pistons, and connecting rods. At least that’s what I read. I’ll take this at face value since I’m no engine expert. Either way, I love how the neon dresses up the place.

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